


It's a Long Way to Freedom

by yunmin



Series: Smile at Each Other's Welcome [1]
Category: Bones (TV), Criminal Minds
Genre: Crossover, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-25 18:11:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/956159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yunmin/pseuds/yunmin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As part of a review into Caroline Julian's files, Dr. Spencer Reid ends up meeting to equally brilliant Dr. Zachary Addy. The only difference is, Zack's in a mental institution for his part in a series of cannibalistic murders. Convinced he didn't do it, Reid embarks on a long journey to prove his innocence, which pulls in both the BAU team and the Jeffersonian.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Investigation Begins

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Долог путь к свободе](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12353934) by [Kollega](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kollega/pseuds/Kollega)



> I've wanted to write a get Zack out of the mental institution fic for what, like ever? Pretty much since they left his character by the wayside. (Oh I wish they'd gone back and dealt with the plot thread that he didn't actually kill anyone!!) My recent obsession with Criminal Minds provided the perfect reason to actually write it.
> 
> It takes place around season 5/season 6 for both shows. (Definitive spoilers are for season 6 episode 1 of Bones, and season 6 episode 18 for Criminal Minds.)

  
**_The Investigation Begins_ **   
_In which Caroline Julian's files are under investigation, Reid gets a new case, Morgan drinks coffee and Hotch starts to think that maybe taking this on was a bad idea._   


Oh shit.

Bones was so not going to be happy about this one. Booth neither.

Sweets looked down at the form on his desk. He'd been aware that someone had been sniffing around Caroline Julian's old files, but he'd really hoped that they would manage to avoid that case. But he seemed to be out of luck. 

The fact that there was very little documentation on the Gormogon case was probably one of the reasons why the case was being looked at. That or the BAU was having a really slow week. Which given what Sweets was aware of what happened over at Quantico, seemed unlikely. 

Despite all that, he was reluctant to turn over his files on one Zachary Addy. Partially because very little of it was actually documented, and Sweets really didn't want to face the repercussions over not doing his job properly, and partially because he didn't really fancy anyone examining the case very closely. Especially given that Zack hadn't actually killed anyone, though he doubted whoever was dealing with these files cared. With any luck, it'd be a cursory glance, all okay, and they could move on with their lives.

Groaning, and praying for his phone to ring with the latest case so he had an excuse to not deal with this, he spun around in his chair and started digging around in his filing cupboard. There had to be something. And maybe he ought to get over to McKinley at some point and warn Zack that co-operating would probably be best for him.

-x-

“Have you seen the latest consult Strauss wants?”

David Rossi, who was settled comfortably on the couch in Hotch's office, looked across at the Unit Chief. “The kid who got caught up in the Gormogon mess?” Hotch nodded. “Send Reid. No one else is going to get anything out of him.”

“That would be my first response,” Hotch agreed, but Rossi could tell he had something else to say.

“But?”

“He reminds me of what Reid could have become. Had something gone wrong.”

“There are certain similarities between the two. But I think it should be noted that Reid has never attempted to blow himself up and join forces with a cannibalistic serial killer. This Addy, he's a genius. And we need him to talk. And judging from these all too slim files the psychologist sent over, he doesn't exactly do a lot of that.”

“It also says in the file that he responded positively to those more experienced. His relationship with his supervisor Dr. Brennan and her partner Agent Booth was excellent.”

“Until he teamed up with a serial killer that team was pursuing.” Rossi interrupted. “Anyway, you're too busy dealing with everything here. Reid's your best bet.”

“I still don't like it, but I agree with you. Give the files to Reid, and tell him that they are expecting him tomorrow morning.”

Rossi nodded, grabbed the files off of Hotch's desk, and left the office.

-x-

As Reid stood outside McKinley, clutching his morning cup of coffee in one hand and the Gormogon files in the other, he thought about the case and the young man who he was about to meet. The fact that this wasn't exactly a usual custodial interview bugged him as well. Fighting Strauss on this one though seemed ill advised, and they seemed to actually be having a quiet week for once; though goodness knows how long that would last.

He was used to the usual, please sign in your weapon here lark, at the prisons and psych wards; but this was thorough. No bag allowed through, his pockets were emptied – they even asked for his tie pin to be removed. One of the staff seemed to be starting on removing the staples and paperclips from the files. “I don't need to take those with me.”  
A questioning eyebrow was raised.

“Eidetic memory,” Reid added.

They nodded, as they placed the files along with his other items. “I'm afraid we can't have recording equipment in with you either, Dr. Reid,” another staff member said. “But there's paper and a pen provided.”

This was odd. “May I ask why you're quite so stringent on what's allowed in his cell?”

“Numerous escape attempts. He managed to turn a library card into a security pass one time, his psychologist recommended that we don't allow him access to much.”

“His psychologist?”

“Dr. Lance Sweets. I thought you would know, seeing as you're both from the FBI.”

Yes, Reid thought, that was what was in the file, but he knew in practice that the psychologist named in the file wasn't always the one treating the patient. “Does anyone else see him regularly?”

“Dr. Franklin for the most part. He's attached to the facility, he does Mr. Addy's sessions when Dr. Sweets can't make it. Which is more and more often these days.”

Which was exactly what Reid was afraid of. Depending on quite how this went, he might end up chasing up any number of odd ends before filing his report with Strauss.

“This way, Dr. Reid,” one of the orderlies said, pulling Reid out of his thoughts. 

The room which she led him to was sparse, as it always was. Reid observed the young man sitting there – who he remembered from the file, was the same age as him – restrained in the chair, no doubt due to the various escape attempts which the orderlies mentioned earlier. “I can take it from here,” he said to her, and she nodded.

There was no reaction from Zack as he opened the door and walked into the room. Nor any when he sat down. Reid stayed silent for a moment to see if Zack would give any reaction to his presence, but the young man seemed intent on remaining silent. “Hello, I'm Dr. Spencer Reid,” he started. Still nothing. “I'm with the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit.” Zack's fingers twitched, but Reid doubted that that was due to his presence. “I've been asked here to speak to you about your involvement in the Gormogon case?”

“I've told Sweets everything.”

Well that was a start. Not much of one; Zack hadn't even looked up as he spoke, but it was something. “Unfortunately, Dr. Sweets' files on the matter are rather lacking, and I've been asked to update them. I'd also like to discuss the case in some detail with you,” partially because the concept was fascinating, and also because he did not understand why the BAU had not been involved at some point in the investigation. “And besides, I'm not a psychologist. Or a therapist. My team, we study human behaviour.”

Dr. Brennan's dislike – or rather mistrust - of psychology was well known, after all. It wouldn't be a surprise if she had passed that along to her student. 

Zack looked up, and hazel eyes met hazel eyes. Reid was struck by the innocence in them. “I'd just like to start by confirming some details. Your name is,”

“Dr. Zachary Uriah Addy, I was born on June 14th 1981 in Michigan. I have four sisters and three brothers and my doctorates are in Forensic Anthropology and Engineering.”

“Yes.” And all that information was of course, in his file. “And what about your childhood?”

“I was raised in a loving family. My mother still sends me hand knit scarves for Christmas each year. I was enrolled in singing lessons as an attempt to integrate among my peers.” The fact that it had obviously not worked remained unspoken. “I completed my high school education privately, which I am informed I was very lucky to do.”

It was strange, Reid thought, that Zack seemed to have actually come from a happy background. There was no obvious indication that he was lying – no mention in the file of any negative reports from his childhood, though Reid knew that childhood scars could often go unreported – and while there was little warmth from Zack on the mention of his mother, there didn't seem much indication Zack spoke warmly of anyone. The file was clear though; something had happened to this kid to turn him into an assistant to a serial killer. 

Reid would have been delighted to hear about someone like him who had actually managed to grow up in a situation vaguely normal, but the fact remained that he had confessed to the killing of the lobbyist, and the physical evidence spoke for the rest.

“I attended a public high school. I can assure you that you were.” Reid replied. “Anything of note happen while you were there?”

Zack stayed silent. Either there was, and he didn't feel like sharing it at the moment, or nothing had actually happened. There wasn't any indication that anything was lurking, so Reid let it slide. Perhaps he might have more luck with more recent events. “So what led you to join the Jeffersonian Institute?”

“I applied for the position of Dr. Brennan's graduate student and was selected amongst hundreds of applicants.” Reid noted that he seemed to be proud of this. “Initially I worked with her to help identify various remains from archaeological digs, mass graves and the Jeffersonian archives.”

“And then?” Reid prompted.

“Dr. Brennan and I solved a three hundred year old murder and she was contacted by Agent Booth to assist on a cold case, which we helped solve. Twelve months later Agent Booth once again called upon Dr. Brennan's assistance, at which point we started regularly assisting with Federal Homicide cases.” Zack paused. “Surely this is all in the files, or Dr. Sweets informed you of it?”

“I haven't spoken to Dr. Sweets about your case; his files aren't up to date, and I wanted to approach this with a fresh perspective.” Reid knew that eventually he would have to go speak to the young Dr. Sweets, but he really didn't have the patience or the time to do it. “I'd like to hear how you understand the case and your predicament.”

What the files really were woefully vague on, was exactly why Zack had been institutionalised. He gathered – reading in-between the lines – that some sort of deal had been struck, Zack giving up information in return for a declaration of non compus mentis and the lack of a trial. And that was in addition to the fact that the person sitting before him seemed completely sane.

“I understand perfectly well why I am in here. I am here because of a fault in my logic. I chose to assist the Master. I put my friends in danger and I killed a man.”

Which was all true, according to the files. And Reid noted Zack's use of “The Master” to describe the killer – and while he hated using the titles either they or the press made up for them, given that no one knew this one's true identity, using Gormogon rather than the self-styled title seemed better. He'd have to try and break Zack of that habit.

“And you accepted a deal with Caroline Julian to give up Gormogon's location in exchange for the insanity plea.”

“That is correct. Dr. Sweets is under the impression I was delusional at the time.”

“Do you believe you were delusional?”

“I was not. I made a number of assumption in following his logic which were later proved incorrect. I initially believed that the human experience as a whole was worth any man's life, but later realised this was not the case.”

A classic dominant-submissive partnership, it seemed. Delusional or not, it was clear that Zack Addy had been completely taken in by what Gormogon had told him.

“And what prompted your realisation?”

“Dr. Brennan pointed out the inconsistencies in my reasoning. I was willing to risk it all to save my colleague, Dr. Jack Hodgins.”

Who was much more than a colleague, Reid knew. Hodgins seemed to be one of the few people who had come to visit Zack in McKinley, and before that Zack had lived in his property. Reid might even go so far as to declare the two best friends.

“What exactly are you a Doctor of?” Reid paused, surprised by Zack's sudden interest. “You aren't a medical doctor and you stated earlier that you weren't a psychologist.”

“I hold PhDs in Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering in addition to BAs in Psychology and Sociology. I'm working on a BA in Philosophy.” Trying to, at least. It wasn't going so well.

“What exactly do you do with the BAU?”

“We profile serial offenders to predict their behaviour patterns and catch them,” Reid began.

“But what do you specialise in?”

“Geographical profiling, linguistic and handwriting analysis, interpreting forensic evidence.” Applying encyclopaedic knowledge to a case. “What about you?”

“At first I specialised in stripping bones of their flesh and preparing them for analysis by Dr. Brennan. My thesis work specialised in bone trauma however, I became an expert at extrapolating the weapon used based upon the marks left on the bones.” Reid could see the usefulness in that. He could think of a few cases in which they could have caught the unsub quicker if they'd been able to tie down exactly what weapon was used. It probably became more important in Zack's line of work, where the cases were typically much older. “My ability to decode patterns, photographic memory and miscellaneous knowledge also became useful.”

Very similar to himself then, Reid thought. In fact, it was almost crazy how similar the two of them had been at one point in time. And certainly disconcerting. Reid was aware how easily he could become the young man sitting in front of him.

“I see.” It might be interesting to have a dig around some of the solved cases when he had a spare moment. “Now, if we can go back to our discussion of Gormogon.”

-x-

“Garcia, can you get me the files for all the homicide cases in which Dr. Temperance Brennan and her team were involved in from 2005-2008?”

“That's a lot of files my young doctor, are you sure?”

“Yep. It's for this interview consult thing Strauss wants doing, but everything about it strikes me as odd. Can you also pull anything related to the Gormogon case in '08, and the performance reviews of Dr. Lance Sweets?”

“I'll have the small forest you requested on your desk when you get back, darling.”

“Thanks Garcia.”

“Any time.”

Spencer Reid snapped his phone shut, adjusted the strap on his bag, and started towards where he had left the SUV parked. While he was sure that whoever had ordered the review on Dr. Zachary Addy had just wanted reassurance that the man was still there and not liable to cause any trouble any time soon, there was something just not right about this case.

-x-

“Whoa Baby Girl, who on earth are all those boxes for?” 

Garcia huffed, and Morgan, who was currently clutching a cup of coffee, raised it slightly so she can see. 

“Fine, fine, but you owe me one hot stuff. And these are all the files that our delightful young doctor requested as back up for his latest consult.”

“What on earth is he working on?” Morgan asked, as he followed Garcia into the bullpen. 

“Something Strauss ordered. Related to the Gormogon case in '08, if that means anything to you.” Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Look you can ask him, because that case has icky written all over it.”

“I will, don't you worry.” Morgan laughed.

“Now if you'll excuse me, there are two more of these boxes which he wanted, which are not going to carry themselves.”

Morgan knew what Garcia wanted. “I can't. First, my coffee will have gone cold.” The way Garcia looked at him made it quite clear that that was not a valid excuse. “And secondly, I have work of my own to do.”

-x-

Hotch considered leaving at ten a victory, to be quite honest. At least everyone else had gone home already. Or so he thought, until he walked past Reid's desk and realised that their youngest was still there. 

“Reid?”

The young doctor looked up. “Oh hey Hotch.”

Hotch didn't fail to take in the excessive amounts of boxes and files currently littered over Reid's desk. He'd seen Garcia bring some of them up earlier. “I thought you had gone home already?”

“Oh no, I got distracted going through all these.” He gestured to the mound of paper. “It's fascinating stuff, really.”

Knowing Reid's idea of what was fascinating, Hotch decided not to ask. “How did the interview with Mr. Addy go?”

“It's Dr. Addy, actually. He's very intriguing, if still somewhat of a mystery. I question if being in that institute is doing him any good though, and his psychologist seems woefully ill equipped to deal with him. That's what all this is about. I figured I might get a better idea of who he is looking at the old case files.”

“Reid,” Hotch said, in that way only he could. “Dr. Addy is locked up for his part in a series of ritualistic murders. You were simply meant to assess whether or not Dr. Sweets' assessment was adequate or not.”

“Hotch, that's the thing, it isn't. Something about this case just doesn't line up, and I don't know what yet.”

“Reid, I can't spare you to work on a case which is far as the bureau is concerned is long solved and buried.” The dust on some of these files should have indicated that. “I know that this case might strike a little close to home.”

“What, because he's also a child genius with an IQ in the 180s and a possible eidetic memory who was pretty much groomed for a specialist position which only accepts the best? You're right, there are similarities, and given that this guy doesn't come with a background of child abuse and neglect I'm having difficulty believing why he'd turn around and kill someone.”

“Reid, the physical evidence that he was somehow involved is overwhelming.”

“Yes, but there's something he's not telling. I can tell.”

“You do this on your own time, and I won't object. But I don't suppose Strauss'll be happy when she hears about it. And you better get the report she actually wants from this interview done.”

“Of course Hotch.”


	2. Slowly Goes

**_Slowly Goes_ **

_In which Reid returns to the Institution, Ambassador Prentiss may well have a book group, and Rossi joins in Hotch's concerns._

"Dr. Reid, I did not expect you back again?"

Zachary Addy, restrained in his chair as he always was for these visits, looked at the man who had just entered the room. He had expected Sweets, really, but then it had been three weeks since he had had the time to visit.

Reid, slightly taken aback, quickly walked to the chair which was positioned opposite Zack. It was a bit more of a personal visit, after all. There was no real need for him to be back here. "I hope you don't mind?"

"I have no particular preference either way. Your visit last time did make the time go faster."

"I'm glad to have been of help to you," Reid replied. "I took a look at some of your case files the other day. I must say, you deal with some interesting cases."

"It was what we were given; Agent Booth selected the cases."

"Along with Dr. Brennan," Reid said. Zack looked up, slightly confused. "Her partnership with Agent Booth was built around her having input and full access to the cases which they worked on."

"Yes, I suppose." Zack looked thoughtful, as Reid observed him. "My job was in the lab though, I had no involvement in field work. After I almost got myself blown up Booth wasn't very keen on allowing me back."

"When did this happen?" Reid asked. It seemed clear to him that Zack wasn't referencing the explosion of his own manufacture in the Jeffersonian lab.

"We were working on the Howard Epps case." Reid remembered now. The man who had got a last minute reprieve on his execution due to the discovery of more victims, and who then escaped from prison and went on a spree. "Dr. Saroyan had been poisoned when she autopsied Epp's wife Caroline, and we needed to identify the poison in order to ascertain the cure. Epps left us a bag, which I reached, but in doing so I unknowingly set off a bomb trigger. Agent Booth made sure I got clear, but the news reported me as dead that night in order to fool Epps."

"And how did that make you feel?" Watching the news report his death had to affect him somehow.

"I should have known better. In my desire to save Dr. Saroyan I became foolish and endangered my life and others."

And this was where Reid became conflicted. This was a young man who clearly had formed personal bonds with his teammates, and was willing to put himself in danger in order to protect them; something which he had also done on the Gormogon case. It didn't fit with a killer motivated by conspiracy, who put his mission above everything else. Although Zack had said that that was where the fault in his logic lay.

"You merely wished to save the life of a friend; we have all become reckless in such situations." The evidence of that was widespread and Reid saw it every day. "What led you to become involved in the Epps case?"

"Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth were called in by his lawyer thirty hours before he was due to be executed. Booth had been the investigating officer in the murder of the original girl. We found inconsistencies in the evidence originally presented by the prosecution and exhumed the girl's body in order to examine it for trace evidence. We found that the original crime scene was a marsh where several other victims were buried. A stay of execution was granted while Epps was prosecuted for his other crimes. Several months later we found more bodies which were consistent with Epps' MO, and he started sending us clues on where the next victims would be found. He said he had an IQ of 180 but I believe he overestimated his intelligence."

Reid would agree with that assessment, having looked at the file. "He had hired an associate who was copying his MO and victimology perfectly except for the fact that he was torturing his victims, which Epps had never done or shown any interest in, which led us to the associate, whom Dr. Brennan was forced to shoot. Epps explained that this was all part of a plan to prove that all women were impure. He later escaped from prison during a fire by attacking a fireman, and taunted us by sending more cryptic letters and fixating on Dr. Brennan."

"What happened to him?"

"He jumped off Dr. Brennan's balcony, and then let go of Agent Booth's hand."

Reid had been aware that Epps had died while evading capture, but the report had neglected to mention that particular detail, and judging by the slight sorrowful look on Zack's face it had weighed on the team for months.

-x-

Reid wrote up the report for Strauss shortly after his second visit to Zack; just over a week and a half since the original interview. He knew what the higher ups wanted, and making the report fit what they wanted was easy. There was no need to mention that Dr. Addy was quite perfectly sane and there was absolutely no reason for him to be institutionalised – other than the blatantly obvious fact that there was no way that he would survive jail – until Reid actually had something to back up his sneaking suspicion that there was a lot more to this case than it seemed.

A look into Zack's psychologist – a bright young thing who was even younger than Reid – revealed a perfectly well adjusted, intelligent young man, whose record past the Gormogon case, other than his sketchy dealings with Zack, was superb. While Reid might disagree with the early reviews of Sweets as a "brilliant young profiler" there was nothing to suggest that he wasn't a perfectly adequate psychologist. Even if the book he'd written on Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth – Reid had got the manuscript courtesy of one of Garcia's hacks and the fact that Sweets really didn't seem particularly concerned with his security – was horribly misguided.

He personally thought that access to the Gormogon vault might be particularly enlightening, but it had been dismantled shortly after the conclusion of the case, the valuable and historical significant items integrated into the Jeffersonian collection, the rest stored deal in the bowels of the Medico-Legal lab, where he'd have to appeal to Dr. Brennan for access – which he had no particular desire to do anytime soon.

Besides, it wasn't nearly as useful now it wasn't put together like it was originally intended.

It would have been an interesting study, had the BAU not been caught up in its own problems at the time; they'd spent most of that year reeling from Gideon's departure and trying to adjust to the presence of Rossi on the team. Zack had landed himself in the hospital just as Reid had left his after the fallout from the anthrax debacle. Given the medico-legal lab's resistance to outside interference, it wasn't a surprise that the BAU hadn't been called in, but Reid didn't understand why they hadn't at least been contacted after it was established that it was an inside job. Of course by that time it would have been too late anyway.

Not that they'd have picked Zack as the culprit.

-x-

"What you reading there pretty boy?"

Reid raised his eyes off the page to look across at Morgan. "Temperance Brennan's latest book."

"You mean the stuffy lady at the Jeffersonian who refuses to acknowledge that profiling actually helps solves crimes and isn't just magic voodoo guesswork?"

He struggles not to crack up at that description and decides to remember it for the next time he sees Zack. "I think she prefers to be known as a forensic anthropologist."

"She writes books?"

"Apparently she is very successful at it."

"She is. I met her at one of those god-awful parties my mother hosted a couple of years back. No one would stop talking about her books or her brilliant work with the FBI," Emily chimed in from across the way. "And yes, she is absolutely as against profiling as she is legendary for."

"I've got to say, I'm struggling to see Ambassador Prentiss and friend's enjoying a gritty crime novel."

"I think her friends enjoyed it more for another reason." Emily suggested, sighing. "Her books are slightly legendary for the rather steamy scenes between Kathy and Agent Andy."

Morgan raised an eyebrow as he looked back to Reid, who blushed subtly. "It's odd though. Those scenes are very different from the rest of the book. I'd go so far to say that they were written by a different person. The lexical markers are very different." From Zack's description of his team members, most likely it was Angela helping out her friend.

"Trust you to ruin it." Morgan said.

"I didn't ruin it, I'm just saying that she's clearly had help."

"Whatever pretty boy."

-x-

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me." Zack raised his eyebrows as Sweets entered the interview room. "I presume the case load has been busy?"

"You could say that," Sweets replied as he got settled in the chair. "Everything alright in here?"

Sweets would swear that Zack looked exasperated by that question, but the young man's features didn't actually change. "It's the same as it always is. Hodgins bought me a slightly more interesting math problem than usual last week. The orderlies all avoid speaking to me unless strictly necessary. Dr. Reid persuaded them to allow a chess set in on his last visit though. He's very good."

Well that was a different detail. "Dr. Reid? Chess?"

"He's FBI, I thought you would all keep track of each other? He didn't seem very aware of your existence either." Ahh. Most likely the agent who had been sent to check on Zack as part of the case review. "He's been asking me about our old cases. Originally he was just interested in my part in the master's plan, but now he just seems curious."

"How often has he come?"

"Four times now. He tries to visit once a month. As much as his schedule allows, he seems very busy chasing down criminals across the country." Well if Zack's expression wasn't exasperated earlier, it certainly was now.

Sweets though, was still slightly confused. "Which department is he attached too?"

"The BAU."

Well that did explain things. Sweets had briefly entertained the though of aiming for the BAU – the original lecture which had put him on course for the FBI had been by a member of that team – but quickly realised that he wanted something slightly more stable. The news of the loss of six agents to an explosion when a profiler had misjudged the reaction had firmly put him off. That and the fact that Jason Gideon already seemed to have recruited a genius underling to assist him.

"The profiling teams. Of course." A moment's silence settled over the room. "Do you enjoy his visits?"

"He's very interesting. I appreciate being able to talk to someone who understands the world in a similar way to me. He has PhD's in Maths, Chemistry and Engineering, so we have lots to discuss. He's been bringing me up to date on some developments." There was almost a smile as Zack finished.

"I'm glad." Which Sweets genuinely was. Boredom, really, was the number one problem Zack faced inside what he termed the loony bin.

"Is there a particular reason you came to see me," Zack asked, "considering you rarely visit any more."

"Oh." It was involuntary, and Sweets coughed slightly before he began again. "Booth's going to Afghanistan. Bones is going to the Maluku Islands. And Hodgins and Angela have decided that they're going to France."

"What?" Zack seemed genuinely confused. "Why? Who's going to look after the lab?"

"Cam's staying. She'll sort everything out. And there's been an important archaeological find out in Maluku, and they wanted Bones to lead the expedition. The army wanted Booth because they believe he can save soldiers lives."

"And Angela and Hodgins?"

"They don't want to work under someone other than Brennan."

"That's understandable. She is the best in her field."

"I imagine Hodgins and Angela might pop in to inform them they're going, but I thought you should know about everyone else."

"It's not like they visit." Sweets knew that despite the fact that Zack often remained quiet on the subject of his old friend's dwindling visits, it did upset him. There never seemed a good opportunity to broach the topic with the team though. "I haven't seen Dr. Brennan in six months, and that was only because she wanted to ask me about a set of x-rays she was having a dispute with an anthropologist in Montreal about."

"I'm sure she's been intending to come see you. We have been busy."

Zack nods, very slightly, and keeps his head slightly downcast. "I understand that. It's the nature of the job."

-x-

"What on earth is he working on?"

Hotch, who stood by Rossi's side outside their offices, looked down at the Bullpen. Everyone was slowly gathering their things and drifting out the building; those who weren't doing that certainly seemed to have given up on work for the day. Everyone except Reid, that was, who was still buried deep in some files. "He's still here?" he asked.

"Which is odd, because I distinctly remember hearing Emily and Morgan discuss the fact that he'd finished all his case files earlier. And I don't think JJ's got round to dumping another lot on his desk yet." Rossi added. "Of course, that begs the earlier question; what's he doing."

Hotch thought a moment, and then realised. "Gormogon," he said quietly.

Rossi glanced at Hotch sharply. "Gormogon?" he asked. "As in the consult Strauss wanted six months ago?" Hotch nodded. "Christ, how is she not exploded over not having it yet?"

"It's not that – he did what Strauss asked quickly," Hotch explained. "It's what I was afraid of Dave, he's got caught up in the case. He's convinced that Addy isn't guilty."

"The kid confessed to all charges though." Rossi paused for a minute. "And I know that team, if the forensic evidence wasn't complete they'd tear that case apart. What on earth has Reid found?"

"Nothing yet, I don't think, other than an overwhelming sense that things don't add up," Hotch said, as he looked at his colleague flipping through the case files. "I mean that case has never made any sense to me, but the forensics tie it up pretty well, so we've never looked at it. There was just too much."

"You think Reid'll find something?"

"I think if anyone could find the missing piece in this case, it's him." Hotch said. "I just don't want to lose him in the process."

Rossi eyed Hotch. "You have spoken to him about it, right Aaron?"

"Of course. He sounded determined last time though. He's doing it on his own time, as well, and it's not like he's doing anyone any harm."

"That's a dangerous road and you know it."

Hotch sighed. "I know. But Reid identifies with the kid. It's pretty hard to say no." Especially when Reid looked at him, judging him with eyes that said – what if I'd gotten myself into this mess, wouldn't you want someone to get me out – and Hotch knew that he was right.


	3. Carefully Does It

**_Carefully Does It_ **

_In which Zack slips up, Reid notices and the entire BAU gets in on the act (with added take-out)._

Zack became quite accustomed to the visits by Dr. Reid. Quickly they became his favourite part of the month. The visits broke up the monotony of life in the loony bin, something which was needed more than ever now that Hodgins and Angela – the only two who had regularly visited him – were in France.

And Spencer – Zack had started referring to him as such in his head, though he had yet to actually summon the courage to call him that to his face, preferring to stick with Dr. Reid for their conversations – actually bought with him interesting things. Latest developments in engineering, journals, textbooks; Spencer seemed to have struck up an agreement with the staff to let him bring such things in, though Zack couldn't keep them. It didn't really matter, as Spencer had always read them before to be able to highlight the important parts, and the visits lasted long enough for Zack to be able to read them.

He'd bought with him a collection of physics' articles today. They wouldn't have been Zack's first pick, but he had to admit they were interesting. Speculation about what the Curiosity probe would find once it landed on Mars followed. Spencer was clearly much better informed about it than Zack.

He wondered if it would be bad form to ask for Math next time. Zack found more and more comfort in the subject as time went by in the loony bin. There was always a correct answer. And it didn't change. There was simplicity there, logic, and everything that Zack craved.

Zack was concerned though. Though Spencer had shown his usual enthusiasm throughout his discussion, he was clearly agitated about something. But he was not a profiler – he couldn't read or catch even most normal social clues – so he had no idea what about. It didn't seem right to pry. Spencer wasn't big on sharing what was going on in his life. So while Spencer knew an awful lot about Zack, he didn't know very much about his friend. (Not that Zack begrudged this arrangement. He knew Spencer was only doing his job. Or at least that was how it started. Zack wasn't quite sure what it was now.)

"Zack?"

He was jolted out of his thought process. From the look on Spencer's face, he'd drifted off a bit. It didn't usually happen, but Zack guessed he'd got distracted with wondering about Spencer. "Sorry."

Reid looked across at his companion slightly concerned, seeing as it wasn't like Zack to not be paying attention, but decided not to press the issue. He moved to brush his hair behind his ear, before remembering that his hair was now short enough that he didn't need to do that any more. He briefly wondered how long he'd continue to have that tic, but then decided that his focus should be back at the conversation at hand.

"Would you mind if we discussed Gormogon some more today?"

Zack, to his credit, didn't blink at the idea. "I have no aversion to it, Dr. Reid." Spencer. How difficult was it to call him that.

"Remember you don't have to answer anything that you don't want to." Cause despite Reid desperately wanting answers, his relationship with Zack was still precarious enough that he didn't want to break it with the wrong question. Zack nodded in response. "How was Mr. Porter killed?"

"He was stabbed in the heart. I killed him."

Reid noted the distinction which Zack made, but didn't dwell on it. "What was the weapon used?"

"The Gormogon knife. We'd noted its use on the other victims which we discovered. Jason Harkness used it in his suicide."

Zack's voice was clinical. It held none of the earlier excitement. There was a certain detachment about it. "So you took the knife, and stabbed Mr. Porter in the heart with it?"

"That is correct. We have discussed this before." Reid was aware of that, of course, and he was aware of Zack's aversion to the discussion. He also knew that he had to keep going over the details to find whatever it was he was missing about the case.

"I know, Zack. Where was he when you killed him?"

"In his house. In his office. He'd started on some paperwork." Still that same detachment to the crime. The clinical precision of an observer to the crime scene rather than the emotional passion of one who had committed it.

"How did it feel?"

"Excuse me?" Zack looked a little shocked.

"When you stabbed Mr. Porter, how did it make you feel?"

"I felt nothing. He was killed to fufill a higher purpose. That was what the Master told me. I believed that at the time." Now that reaction was strange – though it was one that Reid expected from Zack. But in the wider picture, it didn't fit at all. Most killers admitted to either receiving a high from the kill or a sense of extreme remorse. Those who didn't were often mentally ill; and Zack just wasn't. And Reid didn't think that his misguided judgement about the entire Gormogon affair really counted as making him delusional.

"Nothing?" Reid didn't expect any enlightenment from the subject from Zack, but he might as well try.

"His death was intended to complete the Gormogon mission. There was no reason to feel anything from it."

Zack looked uncomfortable discussing the entire affair. Reid could see that he was approaching the limit of what he'd get out of him today.

"And now?"

"I realise that my actions were wrong."

There was more to this than simply faulty logic, Reid thought. He'd press the issue on his next visit though.

"It's okay Zack, I'm not going to ask you anything else." And while Zack tried to contain himself with his usual stoicism, Reid caught the relief in the young man's features.

"Thank you, Dr. Reid." That was almost a smile.

-x-

Reid was starting to get really frustrated with the entire Gormogon business. It was clear to him that the likelihood of Zack actually killing the lobbyist was extremely slim, but there was nothing to prove it. Or even start the process of having the case re-looked at. (The fact that Zack simply didn't fit the profile wasn't enough. They had been wrong before. There were exceptions to everything. Zack would simply be shrugged aside as one of them.)

Anyway, he couldn't concentrate on Zack now. There were cases to solve, consults to be completed, paperwork to file. Reid had gotten his coffee, and was now sitting at his desk, looking at the stack of files which had appeared on it. He was just about to reach for one to start the morning when a voice behind him startled him.

"Morning Reid." It was Emily. Unfortunately, Reid really hadn't been expecting her and the stack of files he had been reaching for had gotten knocked over as he had turned around. "Sorry, didn't mean to distract you from your morning paperwork," she apologised.

Reid surveyed the damage. It was fine. He wouldn't have that much to put back together.

Then, he remembered. Zack's voice. "He'd started on some paperwork." And then the crime scene photos – admittedly taken goodness knows when after the murder had actually happened – and the clean desk. Paperwork neatly stacked. The layer of dust over them indicated that they hadn't been touched since the murder. Fingerprints only matched Porter.

Porter hadn't started on his paperwork the night he'd been murdered.

Zack was wrong.

And Zack wasn't wrong. He just wasn't. He wasn't lying either; there was no reason to do so in the first place.

Zack hadn't been there the night of the murder.

"He didn't do it," Reid gasped, under his breath.

"Who didn't, Reid?" Emily looked at him concerned.

"Zack," Reid said as he stood up slowly. "Excuse me, I need to go check something."

The Gormogon files were all back in storage after all, and he needed to check them. Make sure that what he'd discovered did actually line up.

He ignored the looks of his team members as he walked past them out of the bullpen. He admitted he might have been slightly twitchy as he waited for the elevator, and even more so when he was in it. It amounted to rocking back and forth slowly on his heels, but that was more than he usually did.

Luckily the archive staff were familiar with him, and had the files he wanted relatively on hand. Usually, he'd take the files back upstairs, but today he was impatient. He flicked through the crime scene photos taken at Mr. Porter's – he was right, there was no evidence that Porter had begun his paperwork before being attacked. He'd entered his office, that was clear enough, there were scuff marks on the floor that indicated a small struggle had taken place there. A trail of blood led out of the office, though, and the amount suggested a non fatal blow.

The CSIs investigation seemed to indicate that he'd been killed in his office. The pattern indicated one unsub inside the building; but there was trampling in the bushes around the property which indicated multiple figures, or CSI conceded, one unsub doing multiple stake outs on the property.

Of course, there was no fingerprints, no DNA, but Reid was surprised when he finished examining the forensic report that that was it. Zack had spoken of Hodgins' ability to find trace evidence and link it back. It was surprising that there didn't seem to be attempt to find any here.

Reid admitted he hadn't examined the forensic evidence closely. The one thing that had been made clear about the case was that the physical evidence was stacked against Zack, and given that his co-workers were all forensics experts he imagined that they'd dug through the evidence looking for any trace that might have indicated Zack's (at least partial) innocence.

He'd have to dig through all the forensic evidence later. Preferably with an expert on hand. Because while Reid was good at it; he was probably the team's best, which was why he often got lumbered with the autopsy results and handling bits of trace evidence, it wasn't something he had actually been trained in.

First though, he needed to visit a certain psychologist. This couldn't have been the first slip-up Zack had made in three years.

-x-

It took longer than it should have to find Dr. Lance Sweets. Only by a couple of hours, but still. Finding out that the psychologist had taken a sabbatical five months ago didn't help. Enlisting Garcia's help though, Reid found that Zack's errant psychologist was now performing as a lounge musician in a down-town bar. Thankfully, he was still in D.C. There were small miracles.

Sweets noticed when the young man came into the bar. He was frightfully out of place.

He was tall, with gangly limbs, and bore a startling resemblance to several boy band members whom Daisy had shown him. On the other hand, the cardigan and button-down combination meant he probably wasn't. The revolver on his belt, prominently displayed – he probably frequently had both his masculinity and his ability to shoot the darn thing questioned – confirmed that unlikelihood. The badge on his belt said FBI. That didn't really help.

He waited though, for Sweets to finish playing before approaching. "Excuse me?" he said, and Sweets looked up. "Is there somewhere we can talk in private?"

"There's the corner of the bar, and it's relatively quiet now, we shouldn't be disturbed." The young man nodded in reply, and followed Sweets over. They slid into their seats, finding themselves sitting opposite each other.

"I suppose you're wondering who I am?" Sweets nods. "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid," the man said. That explained it then. Zack's frequent visitor from the BAU.

"Lance Sweets," Sweets replied wearily. He didn't really have time for this, he'd be honest. Still, there was no need to be rude.

Sweets sat himself down in the chair behind his desk. "Is there a particular reason you've come to see me?"

"Yes," Reid replied. "You know Zack's not actually insane, right?"

Oh. Okay. "Of course." Sweets, after all, had been the only one protesting the decision to declare him insane in the first place. "Thank you for playing along on that one." He'd read Reid's report on Zack, which documented him as displaying extreme paranoia and delusions. It practically painted him as a paranoid schizophrenic, though the report avoided ever mentioning the term.

"Not a problem," Reid replied. "I mean, there's got to be a reason you're holding that brilliant young man a prisoner and claiming his insanity, right, and who knows what someone would do if they found out this whole thing was a charade?"

Damn. Zack hadn't mentioned the ferocity this young doctor seemed to possess. "Zack's insanity plea was entered as part of a bargain made with Caroline Julian for his full co-operation with the Gormogon case."

"Yeah, sure." Reid dismissed him. "You all convinced him that he wouldn't survive jail, and that he'd be better off spending the rest of his life in that place." Sweets could hear the contempt rising in Reid's voice. "Especially given that he didn't actually murder anyone."

Sweets attempted to control his expression in response – and thought for the most part he succeeded. "There's a full confession and forensic evidence to say otherwise."

"There's no forensic evidence that indicates that Zack was present when the lobbyist was killed. It points to the opposite, actually." Reid looked, well smug seemed to be the only way to describe it. "And that confession is wrong and you know it. Zack wasn't in that room." Sweets opened his mouth to begin to speak. "Don't think of trying to lie to me, remember what my job is."

Sweets sighed defeated. "How long have you known?"

"I've had my suspicions since I first met Zack, but you just confirmed it for me." Sweets looked gob-smacked. "You didn't seem surprised about the fact that he hadn't killed anyone. And you tried to persuade me that there was evidence to the contrary. If you believed he did it you would have simply denied my statement that he was innocent."

"He told me couple of months into his stint in McKinley, and immediately invoked Doctor – Patient confidentiality. He doesn't want Dr. Brennan or Booth to know."

"And they actually believe he murdered the lobbyist?" Reid was incredulous.

"I guess once you've accepted that you're friend assisted a cannibalistic serial killer and blew himself up to cause a distraction, murder isn't such a stretch."

"It's a bigger stretch than they think." Reid looked ponderous. "Why does he stay in that place?"

"You're the profiler." The pointed look which Reid gave in response to that was enough to prompt Sweets to continue. "He's convinced the world is better off without him, and that he no longer has any use. Anyway," Sweets continued, "he'd still be facing numerous criminal charges. Accessory to murder for a start."

"Obstruction to a federal investigation, reckless endangerment, desecration of human remains. Prosecution could probably throw in a couple of fraud or concealment charges and get them to stick."

Sweets nodded. "He'd be facing jail time anyway. As far as he's concerned he's best off where he is. And you'd need something big for this case to be reopened."

"I'll find it. A good lawyer could get him off most of the lesser charges. I can't watch him rot in that place knowing he's not guilty."

Sweets was struck by Reid's passion. "Does he know you're doing this?" he asked.

"No."

"You should tell him, you know." While Sweets had no doubt that Zack's case was safe in Reid's hands, he also knew of the potential for someone to be hurt. And he would be damned before he let it be Zack again.

He was met with a singular drop of Reid's head in a nod. "I will." Eventually was left unsaid. Reid picked up his things and slid out of his chair, leaving Sweets under the dim lights of the bar. Sweets watched as he left.

Well at least he didn't have to carry the burden of Zack's innocence alone any more.

-x-

Reid had taken over the round table room. Morgan had joined Emily in the bullpen, leaning on Reid's desk as they glanced over occasionally at the conference room trying to work out what Reid was doing. After he'd torn away that morning, he'd come back without saying a word, carted boxes upon boxes of files in, and then locked himself inside.

"Where's Reid?" Hotch returned, presumably from some meeting or other, to stand with Emily and Morgan.

Both of them gestured to the conference room.

"He's been in there for an hour." Morgan added. "Ever since he got back after he rushed out this morning."

"I saw that. Anyone have any idea what prompted that?" Hotch asked.

"Prentiss, you were talking to him," Morgan prompted.

"I just said good morning." Emily replied. "He was just being clumsy and managed to knock half his files on his desk over." She thought a little more. "But after it happened, he was odd. Like he'd just realised something." Both Morgan and Hotch were focused on her as she thought back to the events of the morning. "He said Zack didn't do it." Morgan just looked slightly confused. Hotch looked concerned though, and Emily noticed. "Does that mean something?"

Hotch nodded slowly. "Zachary Addy."

"As in the Gormogon kid?"

"Yes. Reid's been obsessed with the case since we sent him on a consult eight months ago." Hotch replied. "He's convinced that Mr. Addy didn't commit the murder charge he confessed to."

"He's been working on it for eight months?" Emily was surprised.

"I knew he dug through all the files when it originally came up, but I didn't know he was still working on it." Morgan would have helped if he had known.

"In between cases. The original case was fairly airtight, not that it actually went to trial, especially with the full confession from Mr. Addy. Reid's been interviewing him to try and find a hole in the case." Hotch replied. "I think we need to go see what he's found."

Morgan and Emily both agreed, and followed Hotch up the stairs, and past his office. At Rossi's they stopped, for Hotch to explain to the senior profiler what was going on. Rossi sprang to his feet and joined the group.

Reid was in the middle of transcribing his earlier conversation with Zack onto a board when they all came in.

"Reid?" Hotch had to prompt their youngest when he didn't turn around to people coming in. The rest of them simply looked at the evidence boards, overflowing, with Reid having stuck notes everywhere. There was a lot there.

Reid turned round to see the rest of them. "He didn't do it Hotch. Zack. He didn't kill the lobbyist. I'm sure of it. And it's not just cause he doesn't fit the profile, which he doesn't, at all, there's other things that don't line up."

"Reid." Hotch held a hand up, stopping the young genius. He could tell that if allowed Reid would run with all the evidence and it most likely wouldn't make sense. "The beginning, please. The rest of us aren't quite as familiar with the case as you are."

"Oh. Of course." Reid moved over to the main evidence board. "This is Dr. Zachary Addy, formerly of the Jeffersonian Institute's Medico-Legal Lab. Three years ago he confessed to aiding the serial killer known as Gormogon, who murdered eight people in the process of creating his silver skeleton." Reid pointed to the photograph of the skeleton and gestured towards the victim profiles. "Gormogon's existence was first uncovered when a skull was tossed off a overhead bridge and bounced off a garbage truck. The skull was identified as that of missing violinist Gavin Nichols, and this discovery led to the Gormogon vault."

There was another evidence board dedicated solely to items found in the vault. The team found themselves drawn to it. "This is immense." Morgan muttered, and it was clear that the entire team agreed with him.

"The location of the vault, in addition to markings left on the bones which indicated one of the Gormogon team had a diamond inset in their tooth, led them to Jason Harkness as a suspect. He was found dead in jail that night, in what is presumed to be a staged suicide. He was found in the widow's son position, which is also how the skeletons were found."

"Skeletons, as in multiple?" Morgan asked. Reid nodded.

"Oh my god." Emily muttered under her breath.

"An inscription in Ancient Greek was found in the vault. It reads 'Will no one help the widow's son?'"

"That's a freemason cry for distress," Rossi injected.

Reid nodded again. "The widow's son theme becomes notable. All eight victims of Gormogon were all widow's sons. As was Jason Harkness, and we presume, Gormogon himself. Notably, Zach isn't." Reid pointed out. "Gormogon was named for the anti-masonic group of the same name. His victims all have ties to secret societies, most notably the Knights of Columbus."

"This is going to get complicated really really fast." Morgan sighed as he sat down in a chair. The rest of them chose to follow suit as they realised they could be there a while.

They sat and listened as Reid went over the facts of the case; the kneecaps which had been mailed to Brennan, the discovery of the second skeleton, the mandible, the canine dentures, the explosion which Zack had set, the finding of Mr. Porter's bones stored away in limbo, and the eventual realisation by the team of Zack's involvement. How mineral traces in the water which the mandible had been boiled in had led back to Zack. The poor man's confession, and the unveiling of his faulty logic.

Garcia had knocked on the door to the round table room then, and had asked if they all realised what the time was; it was later than all they thought. Hotch insisted on a break, leaving the agents to go scavenge for coffee as he told Garcia to call in take-out. He was tempted to just send everyone home – he was sure that this could really wait until morning – but Reid was determined, he could see, and it seemed like getting on his bad side was really not a good idea.

Twenty minutes later they all reassembled themselves in the round table room, with the addition of Garcia this time.

"Okay Reid, evidence that Mr. Addy isn't guilty." Hotch prompted.

"Gormogon is obsessive about everything. Everything means something. The victims are chosen to line up with his ideology, but also his apprentice. Harkness fits the profile dead on here. Prior offences starting in his early teens, loss of a parental figure, easily manipulated by an older figure. He was unimportant in his everyday life, and his part in the Gormogon murders made him feel like he had a greater purpose. He displays psychopathic tendencies."

"Zack doesn't fit this apprentice profile. Both his parental figures are intact. He grew up in a happy stable home. He wasn't severely bullied growing up. His mothers still sends him hand-knit scarves every Christmas. He isn't paranoid. He doesn't have a superiority complex. He doesn't have a problem with authority; in fact quite the opposite. However he is extremely open to manipulation, and had had his confidence knocked from being discharged from his duties in Iraq."

"Gormogon would want an apprentice who first fulfilled the nature of his compulsions, and second was completely under his control. Zack fits neither category. Gormogon was simply using him to gain access to the Jeffersonian Institute."

"The evidence of Zack's guilt lies directly with these manipulations. His lie about the dentures. The setting up of the explosion as a distraction so the silver skeleton could be stolen. His access to Limbo to plant the bones and steal the teeth. He boiled the Mandible in order to strip it of its flesh."

"But Zack also confessed to the killing of the lobbyist Mr. Porter. But his confession is the only evidence of his guilt. When I spoke to him the other day about it, he never speaks about the murder in an active way."

Reid pointed to the whiteboard, where the conversation was transcribed. "Here, Zack says, "He was stabbed in the heart. I killed him." But he doesn't identify with the act of stabbing. He merely takes responsibility for the death. Even when I try to goad him into stating that he stabbed him, he never actually says those words. And his description of how he feels. How many unsubs have we found who felt nothing – absolutely nothing – in the act of killing?"

The team all know what he is referring too. The killers who feel nothing are extremely rate, and are completely incapable of forming any sort of emotional attachment, and that just didn't fit Zack.

"And then there's this." Reid circled the line where Zack said 'he'd started on some paperwork.' "This is how CSI found Mr. Porter's office. No evidence of any paperwork having been started. No files everywhere, no ink spilt from his pen, nothing. Zack can recite back to me details of cases which are five years old. I don't think he'd misremember whether Porter had started on his paperwork." He can see the team's scepticism. "Ergo, he wasn't there when the murder was committed. CSI reckon only one person was present at the crime scene."

"And there's more. I went to speak to his psychologist today. He also believes that Zack isn't guilty." Reid was aware that breaking the Doctor-patient confidentiality to his team was probably not the wisest thing.

"The same one who keeps signing all this paperwork which says he's insane?" Rossi looked very unconvinced by this.

"He's only trying to help." Reid couldn't quite believe he's defending Sweets. He looked at Hotch in a slightly pleading way.

"Reid, I'm impressed at everything you've gathered. But we have no authority in this case. It's not even a case. It's considered closed. Mr. Addy would have to recant his confession and you'd need someone to determine him sane."

"What about the original prosecutor?" Reid asked. He knew that getting Zack to recant the confession was going to be a difficult task.

"They might re-open the case if persuaded right." Hotch thought it a long shot, personally.

"Caroline Julian. She's still in DC." The entire room knew of her reputation. Fierce, but not one to overlook a miscarriage on justice. And she did reportedly have a soft spot as far as the Jeffersonian team was concerned.

"Make an appointment to speak to her then." Hotch said. "We'll all work up the profile of Gormogon and his apprentice tomorrow, and also Zack so we can show that they don't fit."

Everyone nodded, weary. Morning sounded like a good plan of action. Everyone agreed it was time to get some rest, and regroup early the next morning to draw up the profiles before the official start of the day – seeing as it wasn't actually a case that they could claim to be working on. Slowly, the BAU members all filtered out. Eventually only Hotch and Reid were left in the room.

"Thank you," Reid said quietly.

"It's not a problem." Hotch replied. "I know how hard you've worked on this. But Reid." He looked at his younger colleague. "Cases still take priority. This isn't active, we're not officially on it, and much as I hate to say it, a couple more weeks or months or however long it takes to sort this out isn't going to make a difference to Mr. Addy. He's already sat there for three years voluntarily."

"I know." And Reid really did understand. But he also hoped that nothing important does come up, because it was important to him to actually get Zack out. Still, he knew that he could only hope for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally things start moving. Most of the Jeffersonian team'll finally make an appearance next chapter, I promise. Thanks everyone for reading and enjoying it, I love reading your comments!


	4. We're Getting the Team Back Together

**_We're Getting the Team Back Together_ **

_In which Caroline calls more people cherie, Cam despairs over the spread of her team and Wendell wonders why he always ends up dealing with the crazy ex-assistant._

Of course, luck never did favour the BAU, so they found themselves on a case the next morning. It was a short case, really, they found themselves flying back by day four, but it hadn't been a good one. The BAU had been called in too late to really make much of a difference. It was an upsetting and unfortunate truth.

By the time they landed back in Quantico it was already late, so Hitch agreed to give everyone a late morning, which was eagerly received by the entire team.

And then when they did come in, there was all the resulting paperwork to be filed. Reid was itching to get on with the Gormogon case, but he still needed to reschedule his appointment with Caroline Julian. And the team needed to fully compile all the information they had on Gormogon into a profile. Oh, and Reid needed to profile Zack. A task he wasn't exactly looking forward too, even though he knew it had to be done in order to get Zack out.

The small matter of telling Zack that they were reinvestigating the case lay at the wayside for now. Reid would cross that bridge when he came to it.

-x-

When Caroline Julian had heard that someone from the BAU wanted to meet with her about Zachary Addy, she was confused. She'd been busy having a nice peaceful time not dealing with the Jeffersonian lot seeing as how Booth was currently in Afghanistan. But, she called up Sweets – poor boy seemed to have gone a bit mad since Booth and Bones had left and taken leave to become a lounge musician, of all things – who dutifully explained that this Dr. Reid had been seeing Addy as part of a review into old cases for the past eight months.

Sweets, upon hearing that Reid had scheduled an appointment with Caroline Julian, immediately called up the one remaining member of the Jeffersonian team, and informed her of what was going on.

Which was how he and Cam had ended up sitting outside a conference room in the J. Edgar Hoover building while Reid presented his case to Caroline.

"So this Dr. Reid thinks Zack's innocent?" Cam said.

"Of the murder charge specifically. That seems to be the point he's arguing." Sweets replied. Neither Reid or Caroline had drawn the blinds, so he and Cam had an open look into the room. Caroline looked displeased while Reid was gesticulating wildly.

"And he had to do this while everyone's away?" Cam despaired. "How long has this been going on for anyway?"

"Eight months. Give or take. I knew that the FBI had ordered a case review, which Dr. Reid carried out, but the first I was aware that he was regularly visiting Zack was two months later. When Zack told me. Though he gave the impression that they were sitting there playing chess. First I knew that Dr. Reid was investigating was when he came and found me in a bar a week ago."

"Christ." Cam folded her hands, slightly anxious. "What on earth has he found? Or has Zack told him something? Cause no offence, but he can't be any older than you are."

"He's Zack's age. Three years older than I am." Sweets replied. "Three PhDs and two BAs by the age of 21, fast-track recruited into the FBI, mentored personally by Jason Gideon and hand picked for the BAU. He and his team are the best at what they do."

"BAU, profiling right?" Cam asked. "What's their success rate like?"

"Their closure rate is one of the highest in the FBI. This team caught the Boston Reaper and the Prince of Darkness, among others."

"So Zack's in good hands?" Sweets nodded in response. "Good." Cam crossed her arms as she settled into her chair, uncomfy as it was.

She wasn't sitting in it long.

"You two, in here!" came the voice of Caroline Julian, and both Sweets and Cam scarpered to their feet and quickly entered the room. "Now let me get this straight. Young Dr. Reid here seems to think that Dr. Addy isn't responsible for the murder of the lobbyist. Your thoughts?" Both Cam and Sweets are silent, as they think on it. "Dr Saroyan?" Caroline raised an eyebrow.

"Umm yes," Cam fumbled. It had been a while and she didn't possess the memory Zack or Bones had for crime scene details. Or for that matter Vincent's memory for random facts.

"We don't have all day Cherie," Caroline prompted. "Do you think Zack did it or not?"

"No. Not at first. But Dr. Brennan said she was certain." Cam responded. She desperately looked at Sweets. "I was in the hospital reading to him when they found out. And then we had the full confession."

"Dr. Brennan was certain that Zack was Gormogon's accomplice. But that still doesn't explain the murder charge." Cam turned to look at the profiler who had just spoken. "There isn't any evidence to suggest that Zack was at the murder scene. In fact, judging by what he's told me about it, I'm certain he wasn't."

Cam simply looked on shocked. Then she remembered. "We never looked at the crime scene." She thought a moment longer. "No one ever looked to see if Porter's injuries were consistent either."

"Cherie, why didn't this come up sooner?" Caroline looked irritated.

"It never seemed necessary. We knew what we'd find. Dr. Brennan was distracted by the finding of the missing teeth to ever fully examine Mr. Porter's remains, and then we had the confession. No one wanted to go back to that case." Cam paused. "It was too painful."

"Dr. Saroyan is correct," Sweets added. "There was nothing to suggest that Zack would lie in his confession."

Reid resisted the urge to curse. "You realise he was trying to protect you, right? He'd do anything for the Jeffersonian, you know that. He was trying to put the weight for everything on him. He knew you'd find it much harder to have sympathy for him as a murderer. It made you much less likely to go digging around in the case. He didn't want any of you getting wrapped up in it like he was."

"Calm down, Dr. Reid." Caroline was almost exasperated. "Cherie, I need you to go over the evidence. Pull in anyone you need. Hell, bring Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan back if you must. I want answers. Dr. Sweets, there are transcripts of all your conversations with Zack, right?"

"No. It wasn't deemed necessary."

Caroline uttered an exasperated sigh. "Any notes you have then. If he said anything which reverses his confession I want to know about it. Have Dr. Reid look over them if you must." Oh joy, that was going to be a fun task.

Caroline looked at the three doctors before her. "Now scram, the lot of you. Some of us have cases to be working on, and we weren't expecting one long closed to suddenly get re-opened."

The three thought wise to make themselves scarce, and quickly exited the conference room. Outside the elevator, they fell in step with each other.

"Dr. Spencer Reid," the young profiler said. Cam turned to him. "Caroline Julian never introduced us."

"Oh." Of course she hadn't. "Dr. Camille Saroyan. I head up the forensics department over at the Jeffersonian. Or what's left of it any way." She offered her hand to shake, and Reid returns it, but she can tell he's made uneasy by the human contact.

"Zack speaks very fondly of you," Reid said. "And I'm familiar with your work."

Cam smiled. "Unfortunately I can't say the same for you." The look Reid gave indicated he clearly wasn't bothered.

The elevator dinged then, and the three of them stepped in it.

"I'd better go dig out those files," Sweets sighed. He didn't quite know what had happened to most of his office stuff, whether it was still there or if all of it had been moved into storage.

"Have you even got any?" Cam asked. "I know you kept your documentation of Zack light."

"It was supposed to help him, I didn't want anyone prying into the case. And now it might well mean he's got to stay in there." Sweets sighed in despair. "Dr. Reid?"

"If you can find anything that wasn't in the reports you sent eight months ago, fax it over to Quantico. Otherwise, I've looked, and there's nothing there." Reid checked his watch. "I'd better be getting back over there, really."

The elevator stopped, and Sweets left to go inspect what was formerly his office.

"Well I'd better start making some calls." Cam sighed. Reid raised and eyebrow, questioning. "Our forensic anthropologist is in Maluku, our Entomologist is in France, and our FBI Agent is in Afghanistan. I'm not going to find the evidence we need on my own."

"Oh." Reid looked a little surprised. "Good luck with that."

"Thanks," Cam replied. "I think I'm going to need it."

-x-

Cam waited until she's back at the Jeffersonian to call anyone. She thought on it, and decided to try Hodgins and Angela first. They should still be awake. Hopefully the last number she'd got for them was still one they were using.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and just when Cam was about to give up it was answered.

"Yes?"

Cam would recognise Angela's exasperated tone anywhere. "Angela, it's Cam?"

"Oh. What do you need?"

"Is Hodgins with you?" Cam decided if they were together it was probably best to speak to them together.

"Yeah, just let me get him." Cam could hear Angela moving, and soft mutterings presumably between her and Hodgins. The phone clicked again, presumably as Angela transferred it to speaker-phone.

"Cam this better be good," came Hodgins' voice. He seemed tired, and just the slightest bit grouchy. Cam decided not to enquire why.

Cam decided to get it over with quickly. "Caroline Julian's reopening the Gormogon case."

"What!?" Hodgins sounded much more alert now. Cam could hear Angela telling her husband to calm down.

"Zack's been meeting with a young FBI agent who's convinced Zack didn't murder the lobbyist. Caroline wants us to re-examine the forensics to see if we can prove if he was involved or not."

"We'll be there," Angela replied. Judging from the amount of banging and crashing going on, Hodgins was already gathering up his things. "Have you called Brennan or Booth?"

Cam sighed. "No. Last I heard on Seeley was that he was going out on some expedition where he was going to practically unreachable, and Brennan's the same. It might take a while."

"Clark could do the bone work?"

"No such luck, he accepted a job out in Chicago." Cam could hear Hodgins swearing in the background.

"What about the others? I know Vincent is no good, we heard about his Jeopardy win."

"Fisher was in some form of rehab last I heard. Mr. Vaziri has switched his major to cultural anthropology."

"Wendell?"

Cam thought for a moment. "Still in D.C. last time I checked. I'll go find him."

"Cam, we'll be on the next flight back to D.C." It was Hodgins back again.

"Good." Cam put the phone down. Time to track down Wendell Bray.

-x-

"Hey Reid, how'd it go?"

The rest of the team are all waiting when he gets back. Someone no doubt informed them all of his early morning meeting with Ms. Julian. Reid waited until he actually reached his desk and could put his bag down before he spoke.

"She's going to reopen the case."

There were slight cheers, definitely some clapping, and a "Congratulations Reid," chucked in there. It all seemed too soon. Zack didn't even know that there was any attempt going on to win back his freedom.

"Dr. Saroyan of the Jeffersonian's Medico-Legal Lab is going to re-examine the evidence. And Dr. Sweets is going to see if he's got any notes that were left out the official files I got sent at the start of this," Reid told everyone.

"That's a good start," Emily replied.

There are several nods and sounds of agreement and a general discussion is started about what the best thing to do now would be. In the midst of it all, Hotch pulled Reid to the side.

"Have you told him yet?" Hotch asked.

Reid groaned inside. Of course Hotch knew. "No. I haven't had time."

Hotch stared down his younger, taller subordinate. But it was a look mostly of concern. "You're nervous about it, I can tell." He gave Reid no chance to start protesting. "But he needs to know, and I think it would come best coming from you."

"I'm aware of that." Reid bowed his head. "Dr. Sweets said the same thing."

"Smart man, then," Hotch replied. There was another matter to discuss though. "Reid, if Ms. Julian does want a BAU agent on the case, I'll recommend that you continue to be assigned to the case. But I can't guarantee she will. Until that happens you will still be expected to complete all your regular work."

Reid, to his credit, doesn't look dismayed at the prospect. "I will Hotch. I understand that. Zack's case will rest on Ms. Julian and the forensic evidence, and there are people much more qualified to reassess that than I am."

Reid was right of course. But Hotch had seen what happened when Reid lost sight of the bigger picture, he took too much on and got bogged down, and things got personal really fast. However, here Reid understood. That drawing back was good. The rash madness that had haunted Reid for the past few weeks – and honestly, since he'd first met Zachary Addy – seemed to have diminished.

-x-

It was past midnight when Angela and Hodgins finally reached the Medico-Legal Lab. They hadn't stopped since they left their cosy cottage, just outside Paris, and had come straight to the Jeffersonian. Cam came down from the platform to meet them, hugging Angela, while Hodgins dropped the bags he was carrying to the ground. "Any news?" he asked.

"Depends what you count as news," Cam replied as she led the pair of them onto the platform. There wasn't much there. One of the forensic tables had been re-purposed, with pictures of the Porter crime scene spread out on it. A couple of boxes – FBI it seemed – had been dropped in front of one of the desks. Photos of the skeleton, taken at the Jeffersonian, had been pinned to a board which someone had obviously grabbed from somewhere. At the other end, a young blonde man stood examining x-rays. "Wendell?"

Wendell turned around to look at his former colleagues. Cam had grabbed him as was from the mechanic, and he was still wearing an oil stained vest and the grimy kinda coveralls tied around his waist. She had at least managed to find a lab-coat for him to wear, or he really would feel horribly out of place.

Hodgins and Angela weren't fairing much better, though. They both were wearing a hodge-podge of clothing; clearly having thrown Jeffersonian appropriate clothing over holiday wear. Both of them looked exhausted. It was approaching early morning in France after all.

"It's hard to tell from the x-rays," Wendell begun. "And I'd feel much better if I could plug the data into the Angelator, but the angle of the stab indicates someone shorter than Dr. Addy, and the depth, someone stronger or heavier set."

"Angela," Cam said. "Can you go and get started on that?"

Angela pondered for a moment. "It might take a bit to start back up again, but yeah, sure." With that, she scarpered pretty quickly off to her office. Cam noted Wendell beginning to actually make notes on what he'd found. She appreciated it made his job much harder not actually having the physical bones, but exhumation paperwork was a real hassle. At least Porter had been buried so there was actually a skeleton to uncover if they needed it.

"Cam, tell me there's something I can do." Cam recognised that look of desperation on Hodgins' face.

She sighed. "Caroline has the FBI scouring for all the physical evidence that was picked up from the crime scene originally, but what state it'll be in I have no idea. There's a couple of breakdowns of some dirt they found at the scene, but there's not much. The forensic evidence kind of gets put by the wayside when you've got a full confession." She gestured to the file containing the evidence sheets.

"There might be something in it." Hodgins looked weak though, and Cam understood why. "Christ though, why on earth did Zack confess to all this?"

It was beginning to become clear to Cam just how tough this case was going to be on all of them. "Just the murder charge. That's the only thing we're contesting at the moment." Hodgins took a seat at one of the desks, opening one of the folders while Cam looked on. "Dr. Reid seems to believe that it was to make it easier on all of us."

That stopped Hodgins dead in his tracks. "You can't honestly tell me you believe that? Who is this Dr. Reid anyway?"

Cam sighed again. "I think there's a lot more to it than that. I think Dr. Reid knows it too. I only met him this morning; and only briefly. Sweets explained a bit about him to me. He's brilliant Hodgins, I think you'd like him. He's been meeting with Zack for almost nine months now. It's personal, for him too. You should have seen him. I don't know what he'd have done if Caroline hadn't agreed to re-open the case."

The explanation seems to reassure Hodgins slightly. "And what about Sweets?"

"Going over what notes he has of his meetings with Zack. From what I gather, it was something Zack said which put Dr. Reid on the track of him not being present to kill Mr. Porter, and he and Sweets are trying to see if Zack's said anything else which would support this."

"This guy's a shrink?" Hodgins could have sworn earlier Cam had said that an FBI agent was the one visiting Zack. Admittedly, with all the time differences and jetlag he wasn't exactly thinking clearly.

"Profiler. He's a supervisory special agent attached to the BAU. Three PhDs, in Mathematics, Engineering and Chemistry, as well as additional BAs in Psychology and Sociology. I looked him up. Seeley would be most distressed at the idea of a squint actually in the FBI."

Both of them allow themselves a chuckle at this. "Booth and Bones?" Hodgins asked warily.

"Haven't got hold of either of them yet. No guarantee they'd actually come back even if we did manage it." Given that both of them was needlessly stubborn. Everything would be easier with the entire team reunited though. They'd stumble through though. Wendell was highly competent at his job, and Caroline would rather work with him than the other interns (while Clark was better all round, Caroline still held a grudge over the Keenan case. Just a minor one.)

"They ought to know."

"I don't even think Zack does yet."

Hodgins' mouth is wide open at that.

"It's a work in progress."


	5. Psycho-Mumbo- Jumbo

**_Psycho-Mumbo-Jumbo_ **

_In which the Jeffersonian team find something, Zack finally meets his match and the return of one very annoyed forensic anthropologist (complete with FBI agent)._

Reid didn't sleep much that night. He knew every detail of the case. He suspected that he wasn't going to get much sleep until there was actually enough evidence to acquit Zack. He got a few hours, but as the sun rose, he decided that he might as well go in and make a head start on yesterday's abandoned case files.

He got an extra large cup of coffee from his regular stop, and headed off to Quantico on the metro as usual. The office is quiet when he gets in; but then it is usually only just starting up at which he regularly arrives. Emily or Morgan will turn up next, followed by the other. Rossi will quietly slip in at some point, Garcia will arrive with her morning coffee and daily ritual flirting. Hotch; well it depends whose job it is to see Jack off to school, how urgent the case files are. The one thing they all know is Hotch is always there on time to do what is needed.

Reid sat himself down at his desk. The quiet was good, he could work better. With any luck he'd have these and whatever was scheduled for today done by mid-afternoon, at which point he could return to D.C. And discuss the case with Dr. Sweets and Dr. Saroyan. They might have found something.

The early morning passed quickly. Reid didn't notice everyone else come in, the chitter chatter, morning coffee, complaints over file stacks; he was too deep in his work.

But then; "Dr. Reid?"

It was Lance Sweets, clutching a couple of files and coffee. Dark circles under his eyes indicated that he'd probably been up all night. "Yes?"

"Is there somewhere we can talk? In private?"

JJ's office had been left empty by her departure, and no one had seen fit to reclaim it yet, so Reid decided that that was the best place. Neither of them sit behind the desk, and there is a hesitancy by both of them to sit, but JJ did have enough space to sit the two so they could talk, and Sweets especially is approaching dead on his feet.

"Have you found anything?"

Sweets wearily shook his head. "Apart from the obvious which won't hold, no. I think he's more guarded with me than you. Probably why he slipped up."

Zack hadn't so much slipped as he had fallen into the inevitable; no one could lie for so long about something they hadn't done if they kept being interrogated about it. Reid was almost ashamed. "Has Dr. Saroyan found anything?"

"I haven't spoken to her. I presume they'd call when they have something definite. She has Wendell back working, and Hodgins and Angela were flying back from Paris last I heard." Sweets noted the Reid's questioning eyebrow over Wendell. "Wendell Bray. He was one of Dr. Brennan's interns. They rest are all otherwise occupied." Which was the polite way of saying they'd all buggered off.

"And Dr. Brennan?"

"No one's been able to get hold of her. She and her assistant Miss. Wick are due to check in today though, so hopefully the message will be passed along."

Reid was hurt, and he didn't quite know why. There was nothing anyone could do if she was unreachable. There wasn't any guarantee she'd actually be able to help Zack if she could come back. She hadn't been able to last time. "Good."

-x-

That evening, the remnants of the Jeffersonian gathered in Brennan's old office. Exhaustion haunted everyone of their faces. Cam couldn't bring herself to sit behind Brennan's desk, so she settled instead for leaning against it in support; Hodgins and Angela took the couch between them, and Wendell had settled himself in another chair in the corner.

None of them heard the doors at the entrance to the complex open, or the yell of "Cam," that followed; they were just that tired. So when Sweets opened the office door, they all jumped in surprise.

"Relax," Sweets said, noting how tense everyone was. "I come bringing food." He lifted the bags of Chinese take-out he was carrying, and everyone's eyes lit up. Angela, the most awake of them, scrambled to grab one of the bags off Sweets.

Cam noticed, as Angela begun unpacking the containers with Hodgins, that there was a young man standing behind Sweets. Tired as she was, it took a moment for her to link the young man who stood before her with the one Caroline Julian had presented her with the other day. "Dr. Reid," she said, "please have a seat."

Not that there was much of anywhere to sit; Sweets had made a beeline for the last of the space on the couch, and the only other chair in the room is Brennan's. Cam could see Reid eye it, but she could see his hesitation. She attempted some sort of gesture to say it was alright, take it, and she guessed the message got across, because he did go and sit down in it, bringing it round to to meet the small table in front of the couch.

By this point, Hodgins was already shovelling a small mountain of Chinese food into his mouth, and the others are tucking in gratefully. Cam had grabbed a carton and a pair of chopsticks, and had settled herself down to watch the proceedings. It wasn't intentional, but she found herself drifting to watch their interloper. He was careful, conscious of everyone else as he picked his food, eyed a pair of chopsticks suspiciously; it seemed to Cam he was debating whether or not to use them – before deciding that yes, they could work.

Cam remembered that chopsticks were never exactly Zack's forte either (and the horrible realisation that with the damage to his hands, it was likely he was even worse at it now). She was surprised, in all honesty, that Hodgins hadn't objected yet to his presence, but that probably spoke about how tired everyone was.

True to form, once everyone seemed to have had their fill, Hodgins was about to speak, but Sweets managed to get their first. "Cam, what have we got?"

Everyone's eyes turned on her. "It would be easier if we were in Angela's office." So they can actually show the reconstruction. "But it's good news so far."

Cam swore she could see Reid visibly relax as she said that. There was a general consensus amongst everyone that they should move to Angela's office.

Upon seeing the tech in Angela's office, Reid let out a sigh of appreciation. Cam didn't catch what he said under his breath, something about Garcia and getting her hands on it. Even more so when Angela booted it up.

Angela plugged in the numbers, while Wendell hovered over her checking she had it right. Reid was front and centre in the explanation. "Mr. Porter was 6"1." She summoned up an image of the skeleton. "Now Wendell here worked out that the angle of the stab wound would mean that the assailant would be around 5"9." Another image, this time of the stabbing. "Zack is 5"11. He's too tall."

"Surely there's something that could account for the height difference?" Reid thought like Hotch would.

"There's nothing in the office that would account for it, and I've tried different arrangements. None of them work."

"And Porter was definitely killed in that room, unless the CSU missed something major. Everything points to it." That was Hodgins, chiming in as he held the evidence file.

"Further," that was Wendell, taking the chance to step in. "Whoever stabbed Porter was heavier and stronger than Zack. Stabbing someone in the heart is harder than people think."

"Originally we believed that Zack could have done it because he'd have known exactly where to aim the knife," Cam added.

"But that's not what happened. The nicks on the ribs; it's a solid, forceful stab. Doesn't match up. There are better ways to stab someone in the heart." Wendell finished. Angela had bought up the x-rays so everyone could see.

"So there's no way Zack killed him?"

Cam studied Reid, who seemed almost tense. "Zack could not have stabbed Mr. Porter, yes." Relief flooded Reid's face.

"Does Ms. Julian know?"

"I was going to take this all to her tomorrow morning," Cam replied.

"Good." Reid nodded. "I've got an appointment to see Zack tomorrow. Can I have everything you've found to show him?"

Everyone nodded. "Of course man. Get Zack to withdraw his confession while you're at it?" Cam was surprised that it was Hodgins who said that. He was already looking more cheerful.

"I'll try." Reid smiled back.

-x-

Zack had been surprised when he had been informed that Dr. Reid would be visiting him this morning. The usual month had not passed, and Spencer hadn't been late to their last meeting, so there was no reason for him to be visiting so soon. Zack thought back to the last time they'd talked, but he couldn't see any reason for another visit.

None the less, he was grateful. He enjoyed Spencer's visits.

When they led him to a different room to their usual meeting place, the earlier feeling of dread which Zack had briefly experienced came back. Something was odd. And odd very rarely meant good.

Upon entering the room, Zack knew that there was good reason for that feeling. Spencer stood, behind a chair, looking more stressed and worn than Zack had ever seen him. He had commandeered a board from somewhere, and there were x-rays pinned to it. On the table, some files; but none were the usual psych evaluations. Zack recognised the FBI files that made up the majority of the stack, but there were also some files in the Jeffersonian blue which they traditionally used.

What on earth was going on that Spencer had Jeffersonian files?

Looking back at Spencer, Zack was confused.

"Sit down Zack," Reid started. Zack took the seat, and hoped that Spencer would do the same, but he showed no signs of doing so.

Reid wondered how to proceed. He'd been playing it over and over in his head since he left the Jeffersonian, and had been dreading it, but nothing compared to actually being here. He opened one of the files, which had the core of the evidence the Jeffersonian team had found.

"You didn't kill Mr. Porter." There. It was said. Zack's eyes widened at the statement, and stayed wide as Reid spread the evidence in front of him. "You're too tall. You're too light. You weren't even present when he was murdered. The evidence is all there."

Reid watched as Zack scanned his eyes across the files, the photos, readouts from the various Jeffersonian machines. And then as he stopped as he got to the analysis of the x-rays. "Who found this?"

"I enlisted the help of your old Jeffersonian team. Or what is left of it. Dr Saroyan called Dr. Hodgins and Ms. Montenegro back, and a Mr. Wendell Bray conducted the analysis of the bones. Dr. Sweets also assisted."

Zack looked even more confused at that. "Dr. Brennan? And Agent Booth?" He tacked the last question on as an afterthought.

"Dr. Brennan is in the Maluku Islands, she has been contacted but we have not yet received a response. Agent Booth is in Afghanistan currently uncontactable. We expect that to change within the next 24 hours."

"Oh." Zack was clearly disappointed, and it saddened Reid. The fact that both the mentors in Zack's life were absent for this change of events. He waited a moment; his eyes drifted to the board where the x-rays were pinned. There was a slight nod, as if he accepted the results of Reid's findings. And then there was awkward silence as Zack thought on what on earth to say next.

Reid decided to start the conversation. "Why did you confess?"

Zack looked confused for a moment; that clearly wasn't the question he was expecting, but he got himself back on track quickly. "I provided the information which led to Mr. Porter's demise. I felt – I feel – the guilt as surely as if I had murdered him." Reid could see the guilt. It was still on Zack's face. "The injuries which I caused to my hands meant I could no longer be as useful in my field. There is nowhere else where I fit in. I knew that I would go to prison for aiding and abetting the Master. And I would not do well in prison."

Sweets was right on Zack's reasoning then. As perverse as it was.

Reid sat down in the chair across from Zack, and leaned forward slightly, focusing all his attention on Zack. "The case has been reopened. Dr. Saroyan is taking the evidence to Ms. Julian this morning. Your life will be much easier if you recant your confession and cooperate with the investigation."

Zack considered Spencer's words for a moment. Looking into his eyes, it was clear that Spencer was earnest and honest about what he was planning. If there was anyone who could get him out of all this, Spencer was to do it.

"The other charges though." Zack had to think pragmatically about it. "I still assisted the Master. I'm still an accessory to murder."

Reid had thought this through many times. Probably too many. "You've already served almost three years; you've been wrongfully imprisoned for a charge that if anyone had investigated properly they would have found to be false. There's a lot wrong with all this. With the right attorney you could end up cleared of all charges."

It was a long shot, of course, but Reid had to be optimistic. He wasn't going to continue to let Zack rot. "I'll cooperate."

Reid couldn't help the smile which broke over his face. "Thank you."

Zack looked over at Spencer. The smile really did seem genuine. "Spencer?" Zack asked. Reid looked surprised at the mention of his first name, but didn't question. "You'll look after me right?"

"Of course." After all, Reid had spent every spare moment since he'd met Zack trying to look after him. Now that they were focused on getting him out, that wasn't going to change. The smile which Zack gave him back made it worth it.

-x-

When Reid got back to Quantico, he found the team had already gone out on a case. He was needed, however, so he worked the case from Garcia's office (an experience both of them disliked, because no matter how much they loved each other off cases, they just didn't work well in the same room at the same time.)

Cam presented the evidence to Caroline Julian that morning, who started reprocessing Zack's case; Caroline visited him that afternoon to have his confession officially recanted. Sweets and Reid would be forced to reconsider their psychological evaluations, but Caroline would sort out the trouble they might get in over the fact that the psychological evaluations did not match up.

She personally hoped that the entire investigation could be kept within the FBI; if it got out, went to trial and was public, there would be no end of questions over how the case was handled.

Cam finally got through to Brennan, who was irrationally annoyed at Cam's interruption, and then horrified that a member of the BAU was attempting to break her former assistant out of his institution; even more horrified when she learnt that Wendell currently had run of all her equipment. Cam got off the phone even more frazzled then when she started, which she didn't think was actually possible, but Brennan had agreed to return to D.C. Not happily, and it would take her a while to get back.

There was also the return from Afghanistan, which said the message which Cam had left for Booth had been passed onto him.

It took another day or two before Cam got the phone call from Booth saying he was coming back home. Apparently he was more concerned about Zack than Cam had previously thought.

-x-

A day after the phone call – more like 36 hours – the Jeffersonian team remnants, along with Reid, met with Caroline Julian in the FBI building. Now that there was officially a case, Caroline actually had permission to call Reid in whenever she needed him; no more working on the case in his spare time. Which was a relief.

They'd pretty much ironed out the forensics in the case. Criminal profiles of Zack, Gormogon, and the prospective apprentice have all been drawn up by the B.A.U and adjusted by Sweets as he saw fit; after all, he was the one who knew the original details of the case. The meeting was to make sure Caroline has everything she thought she needed, and after that they would wrap up their ends of the case and leave it to Caroline to argue.

It was going well; no one wanted any mistakes made in this case so evidence and paperwork had been kept in triplicate for the most part. Reid and Sweets' notes on Zack all lay in a pile in a corner; Caroline knew that the first thing the bureau would want was an independent review of Zack, and it would look better if all the previous notes were present.

From where Cam and Hodgins were sitting, they could see out the glass windows of the conference room into the corridor beyond. It was no surprise then, that they saw Booth first, still in his army uniform. But Booth saw Caroline first, and charges into the room, yelling her name.

"Calm down Seeley," was Cam's first response. It goes unheeded by Booth.

"She's right cherie, calm down." Caroline's tone was more irate, more alert. Booth slowed at her words. "What on earth are you doing here."

"Cam said that Zack didn't do it. The killing of the lobbyist." Booth looked to Cam to confirm that he was right. She nodded in response, just a slight drop of her head. Everyone noted that Booth was just slightly out of breath, implying that he'd probably run all the way here.

"He didn't. All the evidence backs Dr. Reid's assumption up." Caroline was bustling, and Booth was now standing there looking shell-shocked. "Frankly Booth, I'm surprised no one noticed it sooner."

Booth's time in Afghanistan had clearly worn him down. Usually he fought, argued back at Caroline, but today he just stood there and took it. His mouth opened, but his brain couldn't seem to form a response, so it closed again. He looked around at everyone in the room, his brain obviously having enough power to compute the missing piece. "Where's Bones?"

"In Maluku still." Hodgins was sharp.

Angela was quick to cut in in defence of her friend. "She's coming back as soon as she can."

Booth nodded quickly; it was clear he was still in shock from everything. He scanned around the room again. His eyes fell on Reid, looking him up and down. Reid, on the other side of the room, was doing the same thing. The army uniform didn't give away much – at least nothing to add to what he already knew about the man. But it was interesting to note his reaction to Reid, his objection to the intruder, and the confusion at the revolver which sat on his belt.

It was Wendell who was with it enough to invite Booth to sit down. Once he broached the subject, the entire room burst to life with suggestions to make Booth comfortable. A cup of coffee was fetched by an agent Caroline grabbed in the hallway. Everyone sympathised with Booth's sense of exhaustion, they had felt it enough themselves over the past few days.

Booth eventually settled down into a chair beside Cam, but as soon as he as comfortable, he suddenly sat up, dead straight, almost to the edge of his seat. "Bones," he uttered upon seeing her through the door, but it was so quiet that only Cam caught it. He stood up on his feet, only being behind the conference table prevented him from actually moving towards her.

His action prompted everyone else's focus to shift again to the door, where everyone saw Bones. Angela rushed to welcome her friend, hugging her while everyone else go their wits together. Reid observed the situation with some degree of curiosity; he was naturally interested in the woman who Zack idolised so much,

Brennan was cold, down to business. She responded with some warmth to the hug from Angela, but Reid could tell that she suffered slightly more through everyone else's greetings. "Caroline, I'm led to understand that Zack is being cleared of the murder charge?"

"I've just had this conversation with Booth, cherie." Caroline was still more amused than irritated, which was good.

"But he confessed. Zack confessed." Brennan's confusion almost resembled that of a small child. Reid almost felt sorry for her. "All the evidence pointed to him. I wasn't wrong." That of all things she felt certain.

"Why don't you sit down sweetie?" Angela suggested, guiding Brennan to her seat. Now that the Jeffersonian gang had been properly reunited, Reid felt even more like an outsider.

It fell on Cam to explain, again. She supposed that's what she got for being in charge. "You were right. About Zack being Gormogon's apprentice." How to explain this in a way Brennan would understand? "He didn't kill the lobbyist though. Someone else did. We're still working on who, we figured you and Seeley were the ones to ask there."

"How?"

Wendell stepped in quickly, sliding his evidence file over to Bones. "The weight and height of the assailant doesn't match Zack." The evidence is there plain to see, hopefully she'll understand it.

"Zack said something which indicated that he wasn't present at the crime scene." It was Sweets who chimed in here. "In addition to the fact that he doesn't match the profile for a Gormogon murderer."

"Wait. Your psycho-mumbo-jumbo said Zack wasn't a killer?" Booth looked concerned.

"I tried to say when you all arrested Zack, but no one listened."

"When you profiled it first time round, you said Hodgins. And everyone else thought it was you," Booth retorted.

"Psychology is an inaccurate pseudo-science. Sweets' mistakes simply prove I've always been right." Brennan added fuel to the fire and Reid simply could not take it anymore.

"You were looking for someone who worked a menial job, ignored and overlooked. Gormogon is obsessive, everything he does must fit to the pattern. He only killed widow's sons, it stands to reason that his apprentice would be as well. The obsession with the crimes consumes them, they cannot hold down relationships with anyone for very long. The profile is all there in the reports, and if you find the real apprentice, the one who actually killed Mr. Porter, he will fit it exactly. Zack doesn't fit it at all. He was used by Gormogon. The apprentice requires a partnership. Zack never had that, he was simply subservient to Gormogon's desires. You are all the people who knew him the best, the people, he respected, the people he loved. You should all have known him better than that."

By this point, everyone in the room had turned to look at Reid. The Jeffersonian team all looked shell-shocked (well, except Wendell, who sat in his chair like he had expected some sort of blow up to happen eventually). Caroline just smirked, probably happy to be see Brennan be taken down a peg or two. Hotch had quite possibly warned her of Reid's tendency to get angry over cases he was passionate about.

Brennan recovered from the shock quickly. "I don't know who you are, but there's no evidence to anything you claim."

"Sweetie..." Angela's tone sounded like how you would warn a small child.

"Wait." Booth's brain seemed to start working again. "I know you. You were the genius kid with the BAU. I remember Agent Hotchner mentioning you."

"Dr. Spencer Reid. Supervisory Special Agent with the BAU. We've solved hundreds of cases and saved thousands of lives with our profiles. They work. We have a very high case closure rate; more impressive when you consider we get handed the cases that everyone else can't solve." There weren't words for how frustrated Reid felt with Brennan. "I had three doctorates in Engineering, Chemistry and Maths by the age of 22 ,was placed on a fast track program in the FBI with the aim of becoming part of the BAU. Zack's case was referred to me as part of a re-examination of old case files. I've been speaking with him for nine months now."

"A squint and an agent." Reid heard Booth say under his breath.

"He holds a very high opinion of you, Dr. Brennan, but I can't say I agree with him. You are brilliant, but unkind, and untrusting. When Zack needed you most, you abandoned him. You should not expect to be greeted fondly now after all this time." Reid took a deep breath in. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I'm expected back in Quantico. I have a case to solve and lives to save."

He doesn't manage to quite storm out how he wants to, negotiating round all the tables and chairs, but the resounding silence that sits over the room is good enough. Zack probably won't agree with what he's done, but as far as Reid was concerned, it was the right thing. It wasn't as though they needed Dr. Brennan's help any more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoof explosive meeting with Brennan done. She does not come off well in this fic. Only one more chapter left guys, hope you're enjoying the ride!


	6. Freedom, Finally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise in advance for any muck ups I may have made about the legal situations, law is not something I know very much about, and additionally I'm British, so know very little about American Laws. The maximum sentence you can get for accessory to murder is three years though, which is how that one works! The rest of it is complete conjecture, but none more so than the liberties crime procedurals usually take.

**__**

_**Freedom, Finally** _

_In which Reid can't concentrate, Zack is more observant than anyone gives him credit for, and Hodgins and Angela don't think things through. Plus, the end._

"Reid."

No response.

"Reid." Louder this time.

At this the young genius did actually turn around. "Any luck on the geographical profile?" Hotch asked.

One of Reid's trademark sharpie maps was pinned to an evidence board behind him. The case was a serial murderer, with women being abducted from their homes and then being dumped 72 hours later. They'd had a few leads, but not much. There was lots of geographical data though, which the team hoped would help tie it down.

"Initially not. It's too scrambled." The various pins in the map displayed that. "But when I though about it more, the data points to two separate locations."

"Work and home?" Emily suggested.

"That was my first thought, but both areas are residential."

"Garcia can run down the data and see if there's anyone with connections to both areas."

Reid nodded. Hotch went to make the call.

"What's up with you? You've been distracted all day," Morgan said.

"He's right," Emily added. "Something's bothering you."

Reid sighed. "Caroline's presenting the case to the attorney general today."

Oh. That would explain some things.

"That's rough," Morgan replied.

"I don't know what's going to happen. We've got the evidence to clear him of the murder charge, but everything else is up for debate. He's been in for three years at this point. It all might be declared invalid, or they might declare a fresh trial. I have no idea."

"Don't stress about it. We need you here," Emily replied.

"I know. Cam's going to call me as soon as she hears anything," Reid replied. Only the call should really have arrived already. He'd been fiddling nervously with his phone all morning.

"Camille Saroyan?" Morgan asked. Reid nodded. "She's reliable. You'll know as soon as she does."

"You know her?" Reid was surprised.

"Used to work for Chicago PD. Way way back though."

Thinking about it, Zack had mentioned that Cam used to be a cop. She certainly seemed to be the best of the Jeffersonian crew. The only one who had any sense at times.

-x-

"Cam." Reid's voice was excited and anxious all at the same time.

"Hey Reid." Her reply was weary.

"What is it? How is he?" It didn't sound too good.

"Zack? He's fine. Seemed disappointed you weren't there."

"I wanted to be. Case comes first though."

"How's it going?"

"Badly. We think he'll strike again tonight and we're no closer to stopping it."

"Good luck." It seemed stupid to say, but necessary. There was a pause.

"Cam, what did he say?"

"He was adamant that Zack would be tried on a myriad of charges related to the case. Had some poor new prosecutor there to list off the charges."

"So that's it, it's going to trial?"

"Caroline argued it for all her life. You should have seen her. She ripped through that list of charges, pointing out that it was more likely to get the case thrown out of court and cost thousands of dollars settling facts we already knew. The accessory to murder charge stuck though."

Reid couldn't say he was exactly surprised at that.

"But he's served three years, so he's already completed that part. And the Medico-Legal lab isn't pressing any charges, and seeing as most of the damage he did was there..."

"There's not much they can do about it," Reid replied. "He still obstructed a federal investigation though, what's the case there?"

"Booth and Caroline aren't interested in pursuing it. Zack says the apprentice who actually killed Mr. Porter was killed by Gormogon. We just need to prove that and Zack's free. Which means a nice search through the Gormogon evidence, but shouldn't be too hard."

"So he's off? He'll get out?"

"There's an awful lot of stuff to sort through, and Zack'll probably be stuck in the institution for a couple of months. But yes, he'll be free."

"Thank god." Reid knew he'd be tense about the case, but hadn't realised quite what a load this had been.

"Now you've got a case to solve, so I'll let you get back to it," Cam said. "You'll come see us when you get back to D.C, though right?"

"Of course," Reid replied. "Thanks Cam."

"No problem." She hung up the phone. Reid put his back in his pocket. He sank into his chair, sighing heavily. Thank God. The trial would have been awful.

Now back to the case. There were lives to save.

-x-

"Reid, are you alright?"

Reid, who was clearly grimacing form the light, looked across at Zack. "I'm fine."

"No you're not." Zack's reply was quick. He'd noticed something off about Spencer since he'd arrived. He was more unkempt than usual, bags under his eyes, clutching at sunglasses like a safety blanket. It had only got worse throughout the visit.

"I'm fine, really." Reid attempted to put a good face on it.

"Spencer, you aren't alright." Reid looked up at the mention of his first name. "What's going on with you?"

Reid studied Zack. The concern was written all across his face. There was more care here than Zack had shown throughout the entire process. Reid supposed if there was one person he trusted, it would be Zack. "I've been having these headaches." Zack didn't say anything, as he considered what to say. "I can't sleep properly. I can't concentrate. I feel like I'm losing my mind."

"You're just as sane as I am," Zack replied.

"Zack, you are aware of where you are?"

Zack actually gave a brief smile at that. "And you recognised from the second you met me that I wasn't insane. You aren't going mad. Have you spoken to someone about it?"

"I've got an appointment next week." Reid paused. "My mother's a paranoid schizophrenic."

Zack nodded quietly. He understood a little more now Spencer's worry about going mad. "You're past the common age for a schizophrenic break though?"

"Barely," Reid sighed. "Even then, it could be something else. The BAU has had several nervous breakdowns. We've had two agents leave in the past four years because of it."

"You've been doing your job for six years Spencer. At some point it gets to you. There are always difficult cases, and you handle the worst of them."

"The BAU is all I've known. It's my family. I can't leave." Spencer reconsidered his statement. "I won't leave."

"That's how I felt about the Jeffersonian," Zack replied.

Spencer knew what was behind that. Zack's desire and need to fly the roost and prove he could have a life outside the Jeffersonian had ended disastrously.

"You don't have to stay. I will be alright if you leave. The lights here can't be doing you any good. We can go over this another time." Zack gestured to the paperwork.

Spencer gathered himself together. "I'll be alright. The sooner we do this the better." He looked down at the mass of paper and questions which they were supposed t be answering. "Being here with you helps."

Zack could not stop the smile that came across his face at that.

-x-

"Reid's looking unusually cheerful today," Rossi commented, standing with Hotch once again surveying the team.

"Zack's released today," Hotch replied.

Rossi smiled. "All that work finally coming to fruition. I'm glad he can still smile at it." He looked over to Emily's desk, which Ashley was awkwardly sat behind. They were still adjusting to the loss of one of their own.

"It's why he's rushing around. He wants everything finished so he can go and help."

"I presume there's some sort of plan for what to do with him?"

"I'm not really sure. I presume one of the Jeffersonian staff'll take him until he gets back on his feet. I hear Dr. Brennan wants to give him his old job back at the Jeffersonian."

"I could be a tough process adjusting. Can she even give him his position back?"

"Dr. Saroyan is the boss, the decision'll lie with her. You couldn't put him on the stand though. I'll doubt he'll be rehired. He can't perform the work required either, with the state of his hands."

"Teaching or consulting then?"

"I imagine so. I think Reid's been gathering all the offers he's been given in the past couple of months and is going to pass a lot of it on."

"I guess being similar helps in the regard."

"Yes. I'm glad this whole mess is over though. Reid's head hasn't been fully in anything since it started."

"It still won't be Hotch."

Hotch had to admit that Rossi was right. Reid had taken Emily's death harder than he thought he would. And with no JJ around either, he was clearly struggling. Had Zack's case gone to trial, Hotch thought the stress would have driven Reid over the edge, but thankfully it hadn't.

"I know. But it'll be one less distraction."

Rossi nodded to that. Reid had dashed over one more set of files into his outbox, grabbed his satchel and coffee cup, and approached Hotch. "I'm off."

"Good luck," Hotch replied. Reid turned to leave, but Hotch had another thing to say. "If you need a couple of personal days to finish sorting everything out, you can have them."

"Thanks Hotch." Reid smiled back.

-x-

Sweets, as Zack's psychologist, was the one actually responsible for Zack's departure from the Institution. Hodgins and Angela had dug up some spare clothes from Zack's old room which they hoped he'd be comfier in. (Hodgins had never had the heart to clear out Zack's old room. It wasn't like he needed the space.)

Cam and Reid had both come along for moral support. Brennan had claimed she had more important things to do – Angela had tried to persuade her otherwise, but once she'd learnt that Reid would be there, she'd had no interest in attending. Booth had said he'd feel awkward being there without Brennan. The interns had all scarpered at the suggestion. They'd all come slowly drifting back once they'd heard Dr. Brennan had returned, and now they were all terrified for the existence of their positions and desperate to please her.

The four of them stood outside. The atmosphere between them was tense. No one quite knew how Zack would react to being out, or indeed how they would react to Zack.

A few more minutes passed. "I see him!" Angela, excited. Reid could too. "He looks alright."

Not much more was said until Zack and Sweets reached them. "Hello," was Zack's weak greeting.

"Oh it's good to see you out," Angela said as she pulled him in for a hug. Reid hung back from the gathering Jeffersonian group. For the first time he noticed how thin Zack was. It was more pronounced in the old clothes, the way the t-shirt fell loosely off his frame, and how his belt was done up to a much tighter setting than it used to go, trying to keep up jeans which were now too big.

Hodgins was next on the hug front, though Hodgins' approach was a big clap on the back, and going "It's good to see you man." Zack could only choke out a meek "It's good to see you too," back.

Cam was more reserved, her hug more gentle. "I'm glad you're out, Zackaroni." Zack didn't say anything back, just returned the hug.

When he broke from Cam, he approached Reid.

"Thank you," Zack said. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

"It's nothing," Reid replied. "I'm just happy everything ended up alright."

There was a slightly awkward moment as they both stood there, but then they were hugging too, as if it was completely natural.

"Thank you Spencer," Zack choked out. Emotion was now clearly getting the better of him.

The two parted, but Zack stayed close to Reid.

"Your old room's just how you left it," Hodgins said.

"I don't want to go back there." Zack looked slightly distraught.

Hodgins and Angela were just the slightest but shocked. They'd just assumed Zack would move back in and it would be as before. There was a clear look between Cam, Hodgins, Angela and Sweets as they debated where to put him.

Reid knew Cam didn't have the space, and had Michelle to consider anyway. Neither did Sweets, who lived in a truly poky D.C. Apartment. Hodgins and Angela had the space, but it was at the mansion which would probably remind Zack just as much as his room would.

Reid made an impulsive decision then and there. "You can stay with me." It wasn't like he used his apartment much.

Zack looked overjoyed and thankful.

"We can bring over anything you might want," Angela suggested.

"Can I get settled first?" Zack asked. "There isn't any urgency, right? If there was a case you all wouldn't be here."

They all nodded. They had arranged around that after all, to the best of their ability.

"Then I'll go with Spencer tonight. We can reconvene in the morning."

-x-

There was a comfortable silence that had settled over Reid's apartment. They'd grabbed food on the way back, and Reid had tried to encourage Zack to eat some more, but he hadn't. The remnants were now sitting in the fridge. Reid had grabbed a book to read, while Zack just sat at his place on the couch.

He was starting to realise that it would take a long time to adjust to being out. Sitting here, even with Spencer, who carried that air of familiarity, was difficult. His apartment wasn't flashy, didn't hold many reminders about Zack's life (or indeed, Spencer's own.) Zack'd noticed a couple of pictures as he came in, but didn't actually know who they were.

Zack had spent the vast majority of the last three years on his own. He'd never been allowed much in the form of entertainment. Being out was overstimulating in many ways.

"How are you finding everything?" Spencer looked up from his book.

"Strange." It was the only way to describe it really. "Sweets was right when he said that adjusting would be a challenge."

"We can take it slow." Spencer looked earnestly at Zack. "I've spent so long getting you out, I'm not going to let this all fail now. We'll do it how you want. I know how tough the world can be."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." After all, Spencer thought, he had spent all this time asking Zack questions.

"Why did you feel so strongly that I didn't do it? And why did you work so hard to get me out?" Now that Zack had started, it was difficult for him to stop. "There wasn't any indication of my innocence so early on, there was no reason for you to pursue the case so intently."

Part of Spencer knew that this was always going to come round eventually. "It's difficult. Complicated. The profile always indicated you wouldn't have murdered someone, right from day one. I saw a little too much of me in you to leave you there."

"I am glad you did," Zack said. "I believe much longer in my current circumstances and I would have gone mad."

"I'm glad too." Spencer smiled.

A comfortable silence once again fell over the pair. It would most likely be a long journey, but Zack was going to get back on his feet. Finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we come to the end. I've really enjoyed writing this fic! Thanks to everyone who has read and enjoyed this fic. I hope to write a bit more in this universe, picking up on some later episodes in both shows and develop the Reid/Zack angle that started developing.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Cover for It's a Long Way to Freedom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5536961) by [coricomile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coricomile/pseuds/coricomile)




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